Jennifer Taylor - A Night To Remember

When she had made her vows eight years ago she had meant them. She had promised to love Seb until she died and in her heart she had promised to love him long after that, too. Yet here she was, just biding her time until she could tell him that she wanted to renounce those vows, sever the bonds that joined them together. How could anything matter more than that?

‘And last but definitely not least we have our very own theatre.’

Seb stopped so Libby could look through the glass panes set into the top of the doors outside the operating theatre. A wave of tenderness washed over him as he watched her stretch up on tiptoe so that she could see through the glass. He’d forgotten how petite she was and that she would have a struggle to see through the high windows.

His eyes skimmed over the gentle, womanly curves he knew so well and he felt another reaction occur in his body, one which had been all too predictable at one time. Libby’s beauty and femininity had always affected him and little had changed in that respect, it seemed.

‘It all looks very hi-tech in there.’

‘It is.’ Seb dredged up a smile as she turned to him. He couldn’t afford to let her see the effect she still had on him. If she’d decided to end their marriage then he wouldn’t try to make the situation more difficult for her. Even though it wasn’t what he wanted, he wouldn’t stand in her way if it was what she’d decided to do.

It was just too much to deal with that thought right then. He swung round and headed back the way they’d come. ‘So now you know where everything is, don’t you?’

‘Yes. Thanks. I can see why you were so keen to take this job. It’s one of the best-equipped trauma units I’ve ever seen.’

‘It is.’ He elbowed open the swing doors that separated the theatre suite from the rest of the department and held them while she passed through. ‘There’s no doubt that having the best equipment available really helps, but it would be worthless without the right staff. They’re the ones who make the department what it is, and they’re a great bunch of people.’

‘Of course,’ she agreed quietly.

Seb frowned. He couldn’t help noticing that there had been a definite lack of enthusiasm about her response. It appeared that his comment about the staff had struck a chord, although he wasn’t sure what chord that was. He was just about to ask her what was wrong when he thought better of it. There was no point asking questions when he might not appreciate the answers, was there? It was a relief when Jayne appeared to tell him that Ambulance Control was on the phone.

He quickly excused himself and went to the office, his heart sinking when the controller informed him that there’d been a massive explosion out at sea when the tanker had struck the gas rig. Despite everyone’s efforts to evacuate the crews from both the rig and the tanker, there were multiple casualties, the first of which were being flown straight to the hospital.

Seb hung up and checked his watch against the helicopter’s ETA. He had ten minutes to get things moving, ten minutes to get himself moving, too. Somehow he had to set aside this agony he felt about losing Libby and concentrate on what needed to be done.

He headed straight to Resus, knowing that the team would be in there. Nobody noticed him at first, then Gary spotted him and stopped talking and the others realised the time for action had arrived.

‘The first ’copter is on its way in,’ he said crisply. ‘Three men with serious burn injuries. ETA approximately nine minutes now. Marilyn will head up one team, Gary the second and I’ll take charge of the third.’

‘Do we know how many casualties we’re going to have to deal with yet?’ Gary asked anxiously.

‘No. But we’ll think in double figures and that way it will be easier to move up or down the scale,’ Seb replied, moving to the bed nearest to the doors. Cathy and Jayne would be working with him as usual, although if there was a chance that any of the casualties had come into contact with those chemicals, he would make sure Jayne was well away from the danger area. He didn’t intend to put her unborn child at risk.

‘If there’s any sign of chemical contamination, I want you out of here,’ he told her. ‘Understand?’

He sighed when he saw the relief on her face as she nodded. It had been remiss of him not to have made that clear to her before. He’d been too caught up in his own problems to worry about how his staff were feeling and it was an oversight he wouldn’t make again. Mistakes occurred when people were put under too much pressure so he had to forget about everything else and get on with the job.

The doors suddenly opened and he swung round, expecting to see the paramedics bringing in their first patient, but instead he saw Libby come in. All of a sudden he was overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of what was happening. Libby wanted to end their marriage. She no longer wanted to be his wife—she wanted a divorce. Maybe he was guilty of burying his head in the sand, but he had never expected it would come to this!

‘So what do you want me to do?’

She stopped in front of him and his heart suddenly lifted in sheer relief when he heard what she’d said. Was she actually offering to reconsider her decision to leave?

‘What would you like to do?’ he murmured huskily.

‘I don’t mind. Whatever’s the most useful, basically.’ She glanced round the room and shrugged. ‘I don’t mind acting as gofer. You’ll need someone to take blood samples to the lab for cross-matching, and fetch drugs—things like that. I’m happy to do it if it will help.’

‘Right, thanks. I’ll bear that in mind.’

Seb dredged up a smile but he could feel it inching its way out of his boots. He knew that all they were doing was putting off the inevitable. She wanted a divorce and all she had to do now was to tell him that.

The doors crashed open again and this time it was the paramedics with their first patient. Seb told them to bring the trolley over to him. It took just a few seconds to transfer the man onto the bed and a couple more to set things in motion. This was the easy bit, of course, doing the job he’d been trained to do. The hard bit would come later, after his work here was finished.

Pain lanced through him once again. Nothing he’d ever learned had prepared him for the agony of losing Libby.

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